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My wife and I hope that our Blog may be used as a tool to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. We desire to minister His message of salvation to anyone who is willing to hear us. We believe His free gift of salvation is available to all, and we invite whosoever will to come and take freely of the water of life, Revelation 22:17.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Holy Spirit, Part 1

We have not so
much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost, Acts 19:2

These words seem to comprise the modern mentality of a
number of pseudo-Christian cults and sects that deny the person and power of
the Holy Spirit. Who or what is the Holy Spirit? Is this a strictly New
Testament doctrinal addition? Is He a person? An energy source? What is the
role of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, and in a believer’s life both as they are
born into the household of God, and afterward? God allowing, we shall explore
these questions and more as we contemplate the nature and reality of the Holy
Spirit from Scripture.

A proper beginning of a study of the Holy Spirit must, I think,
start with the Old Testament. Is the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, or is He
a product of New Testament theology? If so, there is a radical discontinuity
between the two. I apologize for the possible brevity of this piece; I know
that other people have made a systematic defense of the Holy Spirit many times,
and their work was very thorough, Scriptural, and inspired. My efforts here are
not to build upon their works but extrapolate about my own personal findings
from the Bible regarding the Holy Spirit.

As it happens, we find the Holy Spirit right at the
beginning. “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters,”
Genesis 1:2, NKJV. By the second verse of the first book in the Old Testament
the Holy Spirit is named, only here being called the Spirit of God; a title
used numerous times throughout Scripture. What we can deduce simply from this
verse is that God’s Spirit seems to be a separate individual from the
aforementioned God in verse one. Here we find the Spirit “hovering.” The Hebrew
word is “rachaph” and means “to brood, by implication, to be relaxed.” It is
used in the KJV as “shake, move, or flutter.” God was about to begin the act of
divine creation, and the Holy Spirit was waiting in readiness. We know that it
was Christ who did the actual creating, Colossians 1:16. God the Father spoke,
and the Word, the pre-incarnate Christ, was His instrumentality. The Holy
Spirit is the communicator. We find a wealth of passages in the Old Testament
(and the New) where it is the Spirit who decrees the words and intentions of
God. Furthermore, we find that it is the Spirit who convicts and leads people
to God, and who is our only means of communication and fellowship with God.
More on this later.

The Spirit is represented in that part of man which is
reborn when we have believed the gospel and trusted in Jesus Christ. The Spirit
is He who is capable of communing with God; for only the Spirit of God knows
the mind of God, 1st Corinthians 2:11-14. The Spirit is how men communicate
with God and have fellowship with Him; and vice versa. Here we see something of
what God meant when He said that man was created in God’s image in the
beginning, Genesis 1:27. Man is comprised of three things: a body, soul, and
spirit, 1st Thessalonians 5:23. One is visible, the other two invisible; so is the triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our bodies provide an effective means of
interaction and communication with the world around us. Our souls provide the
definition of who we truly are “beneath the skin.” It is the collective of our
hopes, dreams, desires, personality, etc. The spirit is that place God created
in each of us to be occupied with Himself. It is a home to which only God holds
the key; a special domain where the Holy Spirit moves in and takes residence. Until
then we have no spiritual life in us. In the Old Testament He did this to
enable men for ministry of various types, but He could vacate as quickly as He
came. When the new covenant in Christ’s blood was made His domain became
permanent. Again, more on this later.

It is the born again spirit inside every Christian that
makes us fit for Heaven. We have been, in the flesh, born after our fathers and
as they died, so too is our destiny. But the Spirit is immortal and eternal,
and what is born of the Spirit is spirit, John 3:6; Hebrews 9:14. That being
said, when one is born again that spiritual nature is eternal, and determines
where that individual will go when their physical body finally expires. If we
have been born again Heaven is assured us. To those who have not been convicted
and renewed by the Holy Spirit, the Lake of Fire will be our eternal domain.
For just as the spirit is eternal, so too are our souls; it is a part of being
made in God’s image. Though we had a moment when existence began for each one
of us, we shall now endure forever, for we have been made in God’s image. Where
we endure is our choice.

Let us proceed with a brief overview of the Holy Spirit’s
mention and activity in the Old Testament. First examine Genesis 6:3. “And
the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever,
for he is indeed flesh.’” The Hebrew word for strive is “duwn” and
means “to rule, by implication to judge (as umpire) also to strive (as at law).”
Here we see something Jesus our Lord spoke of thousands of years later when He
said “And when He has come (the Helper; the Holy Spirit) He will convict the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment,” John 16:8. His apostle
Paul also wrote on this topic, saying “So then those who are in the flesh cannot
please God,” Romans 8:8. Here, in this passage of Genesis, we see Paul’s
depiction of mankind sliding along the downward spiral of Romans 1:20-32. The
Spirit was striving with mankind, but they had gone astray and were not interested
in listening. “Truly, this only have I found: That God made man upright, but they have
sought out many schemes,” Ecclesiastes 7:29.

Moving ahead to Genesis 41:38 we find an interesting reference
to monotheism still alive in ancient Egypt. Pharaoh said of Joseph: “Can
we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Here
we find the Holy Spirit coming upon Joseph and making him capable of ministry;
in this case giving Pharaoh a good understanding of the prophetic dreams he had
been having and reminding the king of Egypt that Yahweh was still the true and
only God. Note Joseph’s own admission prior to this statement: “It is
not in me (to interpret your dreams); God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace,”
Genesis 41:16. Paul writes “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)
nothing good dwells,” Romans 7:18. It is the ministry of the Holy
Spirit that gives our prayers power and makes them acceptable before God,
Romans 8:26-27. Joseph knew that it was God’s power at work in him that would
provide an answer for Pharaoh; likewise God would be recognized and receive the
glory for an act only He could have performed. This was accomplished through
the agency of the Holy Spirit.

What was witnessed perhaps in passing with Joseph is
touched upon more thoroughly in Exodus. In Exodus 31:3 we read: “I
have filled him (Bezazel, son of Uri) with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in
understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.” We read
no less than 8 times in the book of Acts that the disciples are “filled with
the Holy Spirit” at various times; yet they only “receive” Him once. There is a
profound difference, which we shall touch on later. For the moment it is clear
that being filled with the Holy Spirit is certainly an Old Testament doctrine;
one which we shall see again and again. In this case Bezazel was empowered to
perform the ministry of creating the tabernacle to specification. Filling seems
to imply then that men or women are filled with the Spirit for a certain task.
This idea is reiterated in Exodus 35:31, as God reminds us that He filled
Bezazel with His Spirit for the purpose of serving Him. What can we conclude
initially? One, that the Holy Spirit certainly existed in Old Testament
doctrine in much the same capacity as He does in the New Testament. Two, that
being filled with the Holy Spirit is a precursor; not to grandstanding with flamboyant
gifts, but a call to active service for the Lord. “Not by might, nor by power, but
by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts,” Zechariah 4:6.

2 comments:

As you pointed out many seem not to even know if there is a Holy Spirit, and many others claim to believe in him but seemingly have no valid understanding of who he is or what he does. As Romans 8;9 points out, if the Holy Spirit is not present the person is not God's child, making this a very important subject. Sadly, false teaching about him has led many to avoid the subject altogether.

I approached this subject because I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit; I realize how poorly He has been represented by others, and outright denied by more still. It is my prayer that God may be glorified, and perhaps some confusion lifted, by this study.